


Everything Comes to an End Eventually

by A_Queer_In_Spaceland



Series: Reconsilation is Never Easy [2]
Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Defection, Ficlet, Gen, I didn't like the "Megatron walks free" part of IDW - so I changed it, Megatron Centric, Past Starscream/Megatron - Freeform, Redemption of a sort, Starscream/Skyfire mentioned, Transformer Sparklings, autobot!starscream, but like only for 0.2 seconds, mentioned but nothing explicit, past Megatron/Optimus Prime - Freeform, past Megatron/Orion Pax - Freeform, post-war Cybertron, war trials
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-07
Updated: 2018-02-07
Packaged: 2019-03-14 21:10:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13598451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Queer_In_Spaceland/pseuds/A_Queer_In_Spaceland
Summary: The war ends, but not everything can be fixed with a trial and a peace treaty. Some wounds linger.





	Everything Comes to an End Eventually

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't intend to write this, but I worked up over the way MTMTE and TAAO treat Starscream and Megatron so this is sort of my take on a fix it fic

It ended with barely more than a fizzle.

Megatron couldn’t say he was surprised when he discovered how deep Starscream’s propensity for betrayal could go. It was foolish to think that his second’s traitorous intent only extended to him and not the Decepticon cause as a whole.  
The War was over.

Starscream didn’t look at him as the newly branded seeker testified to his crimes. Millenia of atrocities rolled smoothly off his glossa, only hitching at dramatically timed moments. He outlined every military coup, every life taken, every abuse he had witnessed. Had Megatron been less tired, had the indifference of Optimus not pacified him to apathy the former-warlord might have been incensed by the shameless role of victim Starscream was playing. As it was, he was just glad the seeker had managed to survive so well. Who knew he’d make such a good Autobot?

They called for his death. It was only fitting he supposed. It appeared Starscream had gained far more pull than he’d imagined during his short foray into the Autobot’s form of politics. Unsurprising really, he’d always been good at conniving. The seeker had almost single handily ended the war after all.

As it had always been, Starscream was unable to kill his former-commander. Instead of crying for the death penalty like so many others, when he was brought forth he spoke of a new Cybertron. A merciful Cybertron, untainted by the crimes of the war. Let Megatron live as a testament to their changed ways, let him no longer be a symbol of the war, let their forgiveness be a monument to their hopeful future.  
It was a pretty speech. Even while begging for his own life -actually, especially when begging for his own life- Starscream had an eloquence about him. What a terrible fate it would be to have it turned against him. Primus smiled on Megatron that day. Starscream got what he wanted.

Half the length of the war. That’s how long they imprisoned him.

Starscream would visit him from time to time. Their relationship morphed into an odd friendship, Starscream would lament about the council and how everyone was against him, except for Skyfire. Megatron never met him during his imprisonment, but he grew to think fondly of the mech that had taken the edge off his former-second and brought a light Megatron had never know was missing back into his optics. Starscream seemed happy. At least one of them was.

Optimus never visited him, nor did the former-warlord expect the Prime to. Starscream may have gotten himself elected de-facto king _(“High Delegate of Cybertron doesn’t have the same ring as Supreme Emperor but we all make sacrifices.”, “How humble of you Starscream.”)_ but the Prime still wielded real power. Apparently, he’d been off world while Cybertron was returned to it’s former glory, uniting lost Cybertronian colonies and repairing inter-galactic treaties Megatron's war had blown apart. 

Starscream had tried to get the Prime to see his ex-lover, the seeker was well versed in what a lonely Megatron looked like after all, but to no avail. Those high and mighty types always seemed to not know what was good for them.

It was odd for Starscream, to watch these mechs he’d fought beside and against for millions of vorns be reduced to prisoners, and in some cases, work for him. But nothing came close to the utter shock he felt when he'd seen quiet acceptance and utter resignation outlined in every inch of Megatron’s frame. The war-frame wrote when he had the time, now he had time in an almost unlimited supply.

Excerpts of his work were read to the council whenever someone was tempted toward functionalism and Megatron would be exactly what Starscream wanted him to be. A reminder of what Cybertron would do to remain free. A symbol of peace. An example of just how wonderfully Starscream’s newest rehabilitation program was working. _("What more proof does the council require that this is working besides the evident progress Megatron himself is making!")_ The warlord was a powerful political tool despite being no more than a shadow adviser to his former-second and friend. Megatron preferred to be kept in the shadows these days. 

Cybertron was different, and the same, when he was able to see it with his own optics exactly six billion years since he’d started the war that destroyed it.

When he had last seen it, the planet had been barely recovering, rusted and still in ruin. Now it was like an image from his memory banks. The skyline was different, unfamiliar, but it shinned with a radiance comparable to the golden age. 

Megatron continued to stay out of the public eye after his release. Sometimes he found himself longing for the solitude of his cell, but the laughter of sparklings and the softness of the sunsets would convince him to stay his glossa. He was home. He was alone, but he was home.

The Decepticons may have lost the war, but when Megatron looked around and saw everything he had ever hoped for, when he held the tiny frame of Starscream’s oldest sparkling, he decided it was worth it. Nothing could change the past, and Megatron didn’t want to, not really.

He was as happy, or at least as content as he was ever going to be. More content than he deserved. He could mange the ache that had never left. It had been six billion years, he could persist. Even though it hurt. Even though when Starscream gave him that sad smile it felt like the seeker had ripped open he spark casing. Even though he knew every path to take to avoid the many and glorious monuments to an absent Prime. He would do as he always had, endure.


End file.
